he societal impact of ritualized Christian funeral services specifically on the spouse of the deceased. The purpose of the study is to explore the ways in which spouses are positively and negatively affected in both the short-term and long-term by such rituals. Limiting the study to Christianity and the funeral rituals of what is admittedly a large number of Christian sects allows the researcher to focus on a cultural phenomenon that is both broad and deep given the large number of Christians in the world today. However, it should be noted that "within Christianity, funeral services vary markedly as to who the primary audiences are. Yet funerals in North America also share a host of common elements and structures - practices that are rooted in thousands of years of ritual practice (Hogue, 2006, p. 3)."
A brief discussion of the generalized impact of a loss of a spouse or intimate partner will be provided as a background. The study will then focus on the nature of funeral customs within Christianity. Finally, it will analyze the ways in which spouses and partners are affected by funerals themselves. The argument advanced is that while admittedly stressful, Christian funeral rituals assist bereaved spouses and partners in achieving a degree of necessary acceptance of their loss that can be viewed as closure and as a precursor to a return to a less stressful and more satisfying lifestyle.
According to Berger (2004), death can have many meanings. It can be seen as a biological event, a rite of passage, an inevitability, a natural occurrence, a punishment, the enforcement of God's will, or a reasonable cause for such feelings as anger, depression, denial, guilt, frustration, and relief. The specific meanings that are actually attached to death as well as the reactions that death prompts, vary from individual to individual and from one culture to another. In contemporary Christian cultures, death has become in relatively...